Devils Never Cry: World of Verdante
by Rysenberg
Summary: An alternate universe of Devil May Cry. Welcome to the world of Verdante Sparda. Son of a fallen angel. A private investigator-for-hire. A paladin of the Vatican. Join him as he rocks the dark world that threatens the very balance of existence.


**Devils Never Cry – Mission 01: The Devil Checks In**

Breathe. He needed to breathe. He must focus. The air around him was chilling to the bone and was soon starting to fill his lungs. The hair on his back stood on an end. It was like being pressured from all sides.

"Come on, Verdy," he muttered to himself. "You've done this before. No point in chickening out now."

Verdante narrowed his eyes at the corridor he was facing. At the end of the hallway was an iron door with a huge lever for a knob. He was here on a job that was given to him by his agent, Morrison. The request was to investigate claims of paranormal activity that occurred in a hotel that was situated in the far countryside.

The location was near Texas, along the Mexican border. The establishment served as a resting spot for weary travelers. Beside the hotel stood a gasoline station that also provided car maintenance to those who are in need of it. The hotel itself also had a dining room available inside to cater to all guests, staying or not.

It was a popular joint as the highway beside it was frequented by motorists and even more so after "strange incidents" was reported to occur within the establishment. Some of the bizarre incidents included the hotel staff finding chairs in the dining area piled together haphazardly in the middle of the room despite being stacked away carefully before they locked it for the night. Some would report ghostly laughter could be heard along the corridors. While some would even claim of an apparition in white wander the hallways during the hours after midnight.

Given how modern society is today, the hotel was soon packed almost everyday with guests largely made up of self-proclaimed ghost hunters, who were nothing more than your typical high school nerds; although a few were compromised of reporters or writers looking to get a good story for their respective publishers or local papers. For awhile, the owners of the said hotel enjoyed the popularity for all the income it brought. Until things took a turn for the nasty.

The incidents soon started becoming dangerous. Visitors would report of small tremors inside their rooms despite nothing was felt by anyone outside. One of the hotel staff, a maid, reported an incident in which she was doing her customary sweep of the dining area when all of the chairs started thrashing about violently almost hitting her in the process if it wasn't for her quick thinking in lying face down on the floor and crawling towards the exit.

Another member of the staff also claimed of another incident. He was walking along the corridor where the ghostly laugher was usually heard to fetch some hot towels from the laundry room as they ran out. The windows in that particular corridor were left open in the evening to let the breeze in as it was cool during the night. As he carried his baggage, he passed said windows. Just as the staff member was about to reach the end, he heard the laughter. He had heard it plenty of times and was not perturbed about it as it did no harm.

However, this time was different, he noted. There was something sinister behind the laugh. It made him stop and felt his blood run cold. The laugh became louder and louder until it was as if the disembodied voice was behind him. Then it stopped. The staff member had decided that it was time to bolt. But when he reached the door, he found that he could not open it. Not that it was locked but it was as if someone was deliberately holding the door from the other side. While the staff struggled with door, the windows started banging simultaneously.

After awhile it finally stopped and the staff was able to get out. He was given several days off afterwards. After this incident, things became even more violent. Guests would complain of loud knocking on their doors only to find no one when they open it, scratches could be heard from the walls, bloody handprints were pasted on the ceiling and screaming could be heard from a certain particular door that led to the basement which was never used nor opened by the hotel staff and the owners.

The staff found it hard to do their usual maintenance and often begged the owners for a leave of absence. The owners had to refuse as the place, instead of being avoided, was instead beset with exorcists, psychics, even more paranormal investigators and skeptics whose curiosity was peaked. The owners had no choice but to tolerate the strange events to accommodate the visitors. They could not afford to close down. First, it was a business that was handed down generation to generation and second, it was near a settlement whose inhabitants had nowhere else to go and find a job.

It was not until a certain incident forced their hand to do something. One busy night, with all the people up and about carrying recorders and other devices hoping to witness something supernatural, a girl had dashed towards the front desk crying hysterically, begging for help. After calming her down, she said that her boyfriend who was part of a crew composed of high school students working on an assignment regarding supernatural events, had gone missing the night before and had not been heard from nor seen.

The girl and her friends had tried looking around but could not find him anywhere. The even tried calling his phone but could not reach it. It had been over twenty-four hours that had passed and they had become very worried, even more so for his girlfriend, Katy. The poor girl was soon engulfed with reporters and investigators after telling her story, all asking a plethora of questions. The owners finally put their foot down.

While Katy's friends huddled around her to protect her from the onslaught of nosy people and the media, the owners had the hotel staff shut the place down. Every guest was asked to leave the premises with their money refunded. They also called the local sheriff who immediately put on alert the rest of his troops. They scoured the building but to no avail. The sheriff also had troops patrol the highway and the surrounding desert in case the missing person had wandered off. As or the visitors, far from being discouraged, had set up make shift tents around the establishment.

A few of their number had actually even volunteered to help with the search. Others claimed to be psychics offered to find the missin person. They went about the hotel muttering their breath and going into trances. They finally annoyed the police who soon asked them to leave the premises and back to their tents. The owner, seeing that the people they had kicked out were too born in their insistence in staying, had the staff provide free snacks to everyone as well as necessities.

Several hours had passed since Katy reported her missing boyfriend but no results were yielded. The teenager, Kevin, was even suspected of playing a prank on his friends and might have left them earlier. This theory got squashed almost immediately as Katy and her friends pointed out that Kevin left his car along with his keys. They even vouched that Kevin, who was a preacher's kid, was not the type of person to bail on his friends. As it was, he was the most enthusiastic in investigating the haunted hotel.

Just as they were about to lose hope in finding their missing friend, a person came up to offer assistance. Dismissed as a civilian, he was at first rejected by the authorities as another nosy reporter or, worse, a ghost hunter. The civilian, Morrison, claimed of knowing a person for hire who was good at finding missing people. He said he was an agent of some kind. When he was told by the sheriff to leave and let the police do their job, Morrison pointed out that the only place that had yet to be investigated was the basement under the hotel.

After stating this, everyone looked at the sheriff who could only be heard muttering under his breath "iz dang'rus down there."

Morrison then forwarded his proposal to the owners. He promised results otherwise services rendered would be free of charge.

"Look. The longer we dilly dally here gents, the longer the boy stays missin'," said Morrison. "I only wanna help out here."

After awhile, the owners of the hotel finally relented as even the police wouldn't dare go down the basement when there was a chance that the boy was down there. Morrison soon placed a call at the office of Verdante Sparda, private investigator for hire and an odds job man. He explained everything he could to the young man.

After almost two days of driving on his BMW R27 Vintage with two stops along the way, Verdante had finally arrived at the place.

The establishment was still packed with people. Cameras were everywhere. Devices that looked similar to the ones the Ghostbuster's from the cartoons used. He couldn't help but smirk at this.

People gawked at him as he parked his bike at whatever space he could find amidst the sea of sedans and police cars. His appearance was not exactly what they had expected. When one thinks of a private investigator, one would not be at fault for imagining a scruffy looking man in his mid thirties wearing a faded out trench coat with a cigarette in hand.

As he removed his helmet, Verdante's appearance was also not exactly common. He had spiky white hair that was pulled back, deep blue eyes and his skin sported a pale complexion. He was wearing a hooded red coat, a black vest underneath on top of a grey long sleeved shirt. He was wearing black cargo pants that had plenty of pockets and a pair of biker boots that were also black in color. He also had several belts around his waist.

He stood at a good six feet or so and had a muscular build with an athletic frame. This was evident when he got off his motorcycle and stood up to full height. As Verdante scanned the faces that were now facing his way, he recognized a familiar face with a brown goatee.

"Verdante! Over here!" Morrison called out.

Verdante approached his agent with the crowd parting to give way. They were still gawking with the female ones gazing at him with a look akin to longing. People often commented on his handsome appearance which Verdante took in stride but never actually thought much about it. He found it awkward to dwell on appearances nor flaunt it. It did have its uses though.

"Sup' old man," he acknowledged the man with a nod. "You called me out here in the middle of nowhere so this better be good."

"Is it so hard for you to thank me for bringing you jobs?" Morrison shot back.

"Heh! It's still not enough to get me out of my debts."

"If you didn't order too much pizza on a daily basis, may be you wouldn't be in so much debt with the pizza parlor," Morrison snorted. "Come on. I want you to meet your clients. This way," he gave a nod towards a group of people at a distance who were gathered around a picnic table. They walked side by side towards the group who were huddled together at the table talking. They looked up as the two approached.

"Well gentlemen. This is the person who'll be taking on the job," Morrison said to the group at large but mostly addressed it to a brown skinned elderly who Verdante guessed as the owner of the hotel.

He felt different sets of eyes gauge him carefully. He looked back. There was a petite blond girl who should've had a pretty face but was currently in distress. He determined that this was Katy. A Latino man stood beside her wearing a black vest with a tie and had a tag on his left breast showing that he was the manager. The sheriff was another old man that seemed to be in his sixties wearing the usual get up of a highway patrol officer. His partner, a female, was younger. She looked to be around her mid twenties and her brunette hair was in a ponytail and her otherwise cut face had a stern countenance.

"That's him?" said the owner in well spoken English. "You look so young," he said to Verdante.

"I get that all the time, sir," he replied. "So you must be the owner, right?"

"Uh, yes. Manuel Ortega, said the owner.

"How old are you kid?" the Sheriff asked with a scrutinizing stare. "You can't be older than my grandson."

"I'm old enough," said Verdante casually. "Don't worry about it. I've been in this business for as long as I remember, officer."

"Hmph," was the only reply he got.

"You said you would get someone who could help us. Not some punk ass kid!" the hotel manager snapped at Morrison accusingly.

"Hey, I'm right over here. You know I can hear you, right?" said Verdante annoyed at the man's rudeness.

"Cocha!" Ortega scolded the younger man. He turned towards Verdante. "You must excuse my nephew. It has been a very long day and we are all tired. But he has a point. Can you do it? Can you stop this madness?"

"Stop what now? I was only told to look for someone," said Verdante, raising an eye at Morrison who only lit a cigarette and gazed at the horizon.

"Then you are of no use to us!" Cocha shouted with an angry scowl. "If no one can get rid of whatever is plaguing us then go and sit among those filthy cows who claim to be paranormal investigators!"

"Asshole!" was heard from the crowd behind him. Cocha paid the person no mind.

"Calm down!" this time it was the female officer who snapped at him before rounding on Verdante. "Look, we're tired of all these bullshit from people claiming to be able to solve what bugaloo the hotel has and we're not putting up with it anymore. So if you're partner over there has been lying about how you can find the missing kid, then you heard the nephew. You'd better get your ass outta here before I kick it," she said, all the while glaring at both Verdante and Morrison who continued to smoke nonchalantly.

All the while, Verdante kept his cool. When the female officer was done, he gave her his most charming smile. "I like you. You're feisty."

It had the desired effect as the officer could only blush and stutter.

"L-l-look, "started Katy, who was quiet all this time. "Can you help us find Kevin? If you can, please do!" Despite her distress, the teen was affected by the smile as well. She couldn't help it despite the nagging worry about her boyfriend. The man in front of her was oozing with too much sex appeal.

"Alright, alright. I can't say no to a nice young lady like you," he replied, winking at her.

Katy only blushed.

Verdante smirked and the directed his attention towards the others. The sheriff, Ortega and his nephew all and strange looks on their faces. Verdante didn't know it but his face also had a kind of effeminate look on his youthful face. When he smiled earlier at the patrol officer, it had the same effect on the opposite gender. The nephew was trying to keep an angry face while avoiding eye contact with Verdante. Morrison was oblivious to everything as he was still looking in a different direction.

"So, uh, where do we start?" he asked all three.

"Um…uh…" stuttered the Sheriff, who until now had been questioning his sexual preference. "My…uh…partner will give you the details and will be your contact. I have to….uh….talk with the rest of the troops. Watch him," he ordered his partner. The Sheriff soon excused himself.

"B-b-but sir!" stuttered the officer who was left all by herself but it was too late. The Sheriff had already fast walked towards his car and jumped in.

"I, too, have work. My employees are waiting on me for instructions. Come Cocha." Said Ortega, beckoning his nephew. Both walked away.

"Kid," said Morrison, putting his half-finished cigarette out. "You can take things form here. I've got to get back to the office."

"Just like you, to leave me in the middle of a mess," Verdante retorted.

"You can take care of yourself. I've already talked with Ortega. If all goes well, you get paid," Morrison replied with a smile.

"You never told me how muc-"

"Fifty grand."

That stopped Verdante.

"Yeah, the owners were under the impression that you can also take care of the problem regarding the hotel while looking for our missing person the same time. A problem that only you can solve, " Morrison continued with a knowing look in his eye.

"Ah. So it's going to be that kind of thing, huh?" said Verdante.

"That's the reason why I was here in the first place."

"Excuse me! What are you two talking about?" the female officer interjected angrily.

"Oh, you're still here," said Verdante with fake surprise on his face.

"Damn right! Now just wha-,"

Morrison interrupted her however. "Now you get the gist, kid?"

"Yeah. But what if it turns out to be nothing?"

"Well, as long as you get to the bottom of it, you still get paid. See you around Verdante." Said Morrison as he started to walk away. "Don't forget to call me when you get back."

Verdante could only sigh in exasperation at Morrison's retreating back. He turned towards the blonde and the sulking brunette. "We'd better get going then. I'd like to get this done as soon as possible."

Katy gave a nod while the officer just gave him a scowl but said "Fine. Looks like I'm stuck with you anyway. Follow me."

Verdante was about to follow when-

"Verdante!"

He looked back and saw Morrison at a distance.

"Be careful! This could be something else!" and with that, Morrison waved.

Verdante only waved back before turning around and following Katy and female cop.

 _ **-INTERMISSION-**_

"Hey"

"What is it?" was the angry reply.

"Let me get something before I head out."

"Make it quick!"

"Sure, sure. I don't want to keep two pretty ladies waiting."

Verdante walked back towards his bike and retrieved a long package from it. He slung it over his shoulder before going back to where Katy and the officer, whose name was Lucy, were waiting.

They both eyed the packed hanging between his should blades.

"What's that?" asked Lucy suspiciously,

"A little insurance," he answered with a smile but gave no more answers.

Lucy still looked at him with suspicion but decided to let it go. They both walked towards the entrance of a four-storey building. Inside the lobby was a front desk with two people behind its counter. It was the hotel manager and another staff who looked to be the clerk.

"So this is the place," Verdante observed. He took in the surrounding atmosphere and felt a subdued feeling shrouding the entire place.

Looks like Morrison was right on the money, he thought.

"Hey, you!" Lucy called out to the hotel manager. He looked up with an irritable look on his face and eyed Verdante with disgust.

"Where's the manager?" asked Lucy.

"In his office," said Cocha. "He shouldn't be here," he hissed at Verdante's direction. What the hell is wrong with this guy, Verdante wondered.

"I say who is allowed or not," snapped Lucy. "Now, are you going to take us to the owner or what?"

The hotel manager merely grimaced but beckoned the three to follow, leaving the clerk alone behind the counter, who was busy poring over contents in a log book.

They followed Cocha through a set of double doors that led into some sort of atrium and into a single door on the far right. Upon entering they found themselves in a small corridor that led to two doors in front of them.

The first one had a sign that said maintenance while the other door had a sign labeled as the office. They entered the latter.

Ortega was sitting behind his desk writing some kind of letter. He looked up when they entered.

"Ah. How can I help you?" he asked.

"That's up to him," Lucy responded while jerking her thumb towards Verdante.

"Please, have a seat." Ortega motioned towards several chairs in front of his desk. Verdante, Lucy and Katy were the only ones who sat down. Cocha gave a small nod towards his uncle before leaving the room with one last glare at Verdante.

"Okay, first things first. I just want to confirm the deal you made with my agent," said Verdante, crossing his legs.

"We pay you fifty thousand dollars if you can find the whereabouts of our dear guest's missing friend and partner, Kevin Williams and help us get rid of whatever is going here," said Ortega. "It's very bad for business if one of your customers were to suddenly disappear," he added with a sad smile and a shake of his head.

"Consider me hired then."

Ortega was taken aback with the sudden acceptance but recovered quickly and said "Thank you! But it would mean much more if there are actual results."

"Mister Morrison was at first denied when he offered to send someone who was good at finding people," Katy put in.

At this, Lucy frowned and said "There were these idiots calling themselves psychics and claimed that they could find our missing person by reading some cards or whatever shit they do."

She looked directly at Verdante.

"You see where we're going at. Mister Ortega here went on a limb to accept your friend's proposal. So make it count."

"I see," was his only response.

"So what do you plan to do first?" asked Ortega.

"Give me everything that happened so far."

Ortega then proceeded to give him a summarized version of the events that lead to the disappearance. The haunting that occurred frequently. The influx of visitors wanting to witness the paranormal. The increase in supernatural activity. The disappearance itself. The search.

All throughout, Verdante listened carefully. While he frowned in thought while ingesting the information he was hearing, he couldn't help but smile inwardly.

It wasn't going to be a boring tip after all.


End file.
